Opinion

In 1994, the Klein government stripped Alberta school boards of their ability to freely raise revenues through the use of local school taxes levied on property. Instead, the government funded education through general revenues and a province-wide school property tax.

Could it be? Could spring finally be here? Based on the weather we’ve been experiencing lately, it’s hard to tell. But the calendar says it’s the Victoria Day long weekend coming up and that is usually the time when most of us are finally fully thawed out and ready to start living again, as opposed to simply existing.

Among the carnage and clutter of last week’s diatribe were several issues that were touched on but are most certainly in need of a bit of a closer look.

It’s a bit of stating the obvious, but now that we know there’ll be no Montreal – Calgary showdown for the Stanley Cup, there can be no doubt that this indeed, is far from a perfect world.

I should’ve known the Ottawa Senators would fold up like a house of cards once the National Hockey League playoffs arrived – but going out in four straight games against the Pittsburgh Penguins was still a bit of a shock.

The plan was to open this week’s editorial with another tirade about the comedy-of-errors that has become the Olympic torch relay and then take a few more shots at the notion that the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games are somehow credible and legitimized because a handful of politicians and the International Olympic Committee say they are.

There was a question asked in one of those movies about the Vietnam War – it may have been Full Metal Jacket, Brothers in Arms or Casualties of War, or possibly even Platoon; I can’t say for sure, but the particular movie doesn’t really matter nearly as much as the particular question, especially in light of the recent Earth Hour 2008 brouhaha.

Precedents like unto beauty are in the eyes of he beholder. Kosovo’s declaration of independence explicitly states, “Kosovo is a special case arising from Yugoslavia’s non-consensual breakup and is not a precedent for any other situation.”

Every day, millions of Canadians take time from work, leisure and home to volunteer their talents and energies to seek solutions in their communities. They are young, old and every age in between.

The Harper government, with Stockwell Day as Minister of Public Safety, is determined to drag Canada into the darkness.